Thomas Laurent (born 5 April 1998) is a French racing driver who currently competes in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

for French team

Signatech Signatech, formerly known as Signature, is a French auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since th ...

Alpine Matmut and in the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

with

Graff Racing Graff Racing is an auto racing team based in France. Graff Racing
Translation from fr, February 20, 2021,The team was founded in 1 ...

. He finished second in the

2017 24 Hours of Le Mans The 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 85e 24 Heures du Mans) was a 24-hour automobile endurance event held for Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars from 17 to 18 June 2017 at the Circuit de la Sart ...

and third in the

2018 24 Hours of Le Mans The 86th 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 86e 24 Heures du Mans) was an 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 16 to 17 June 2018 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, close t ...

Career

Early life

Born in

La Roche-sur-Yon La Roche-sur-Yon () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is the capital of the department. The demonym for its inhabitants is ''Yonnais''. History The town expanded significantly after Napo ...

to go-kart racing mechanic Jean-Pascal Laurent and his wife Nathalie Laurent, he began

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

at age three in a small custom-built go kart on an adapted circuit constructed by his father and began competing competitively from the age of seven. He aimed to be in endurance racing from the age of either 11 or 12 and was an enthusiast of the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

. Laurent finished ninth at the 2012 World Karting Championship held in

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,614, in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão (). In 1924, it was ...

, Portugal. He won the French Karting Championship every year from 2012 to 2014 and the World Karting Championship in 2015.

2015

He stepped out of karting aged 17 in late 2015 and had twice tested a

Formula 4 FIA Formula 4, also called FIA F4, is an open-wheel racing car category intended for junior drivers. There is no global championship, but rather individual nations or regions can host their own championships in compliance with a universal set of r ...

car but he was unhappy with the amount of money he required to progress to the category. He competed in 3 of the 4 rounds 2015–16 Asian Le Mans Series with

Jackie Chan DC Racing Jackie Chan DC Racing, formerly known as DC Racing, is a racing team that currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Asian Le Mans Series. The team is co-owned by Asian Le Mans champion David Cheng and actor Jackie Chan. Partne ...

alongside

Ho-Pin Tung Ho-Pin Tung (; born December 4, 1982) is a Chinese-Dutch racing driver who races with a Chinese license. Career Born in Velp, Gelderland, Netherlands, Tung started kart racing in the Netherlands in 1997 before graduating to single-seaters. I ...

and

David Cheng David Cheng (born July 21, 1989) is an American sports car racing driver. He currently drives the No. 37 LMP2 Oreca 07 for Jackie Chan DC Racing in the Asian Le Mans Series and FIA World Endurance Championship. Racing career Born in Beijing, C ...

. They won all three races, but Laurent was only ranked second in the championship as Tung and Cheng won the opening round without him, leaving Laurent with a 25-point deficit.

2016

Laurent raced in the 2016 European Le Mans Championship in LMP3 for YMR in a

Ligier Ligier (() is a French automobile and minibus maker created by former racing driver and rugby player Guy Ligier (1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of microcars. Ligier is best known for its involvement in the Formula 1 World Champio ...

JS P3 alongside

Alexandre Cougnaud Alexandre Cougnaud (born 5 December 1991) is a French Auto racing, racing driver. who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with Graff Racing. Career Early career Cougnaud, born in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France, began karting in 2002 ...

and

Yann Ehrlacher Yann Ehrlacher (born 4 July 1996) is a French auto racing driver who competes in the World Touring Car Cup for Cyan Racing, Cyan Performance Lynk & Co. He was the 2020 World Touring Car Cup winner and defended the title in 2021. He is the son o ...

. He finished 8th in the championship despite three retirements, and took a dominant win in the final round at Estoril. He also entered the Road To Le Mans race that year for DC Racing, alongside Cougnaud. Laurent took over the car in the lead and pulled away to win the race. Laurent returned to the

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second season. ...

for the 2016–17 season. He raced in LMP2, again for DC Racing alongside Tung and

Gustavo Menezes Gustavo Menezes (born 19 September 1994) is an American racing driver, currently racing for Peugeot Sport in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Career Karting Menezes began karting in 2002, but took his first championship in 2005 in the IKF ...

. He missed the first round (which Tung and Menezes won in his absence) before they came second and first at

Fuji Fuji may refer to: Places China * Fuji, Xiangcheng City (付集镇), town in Xiangcheng City, Henan Japan * Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan * Fuji River * Fuji, Saga, town in Saga Prefecture * Fuji, Shizuoka, city in Shizuoka Prefectur ...

and

Buriram Buriram (, , , 'city of happiness') is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in Thailand, capital of Buriram Province, about northeast of Bangkok. The town occupies ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Buriram District. In 2012 it had a population of 27,862 ...

respectively. This left the No. 35 car with an 18-point lead coming into the final round. However they retired after a first corner accident, and lost the title. Laurent placed seventh in the drivers title.

2017

In 2017 it was announced that Laurent would race in the

World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to: * FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012 * World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985 * Endura ...

in the LMP2 class. He drove for

in a

Jota Sport Jota Sport is a British sports car racing team. Founded as Team Jota by Sam Hignett and John Stack, Jota Sport is part of the Jota Group which is owned by Sam Hignett and David Clark. The team is based in Tunbridge Wells in England. Jota Sport ha ...

run

Oreca ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport. ...

07 alongside Tung and

Oliver Jarvis Oliver Jarvis (born 9 January 1984) is a British professional racing driver currently racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Mazda Team Joest. Jarvis won the 2022 24 Hours of Daytona with Meyer Shank Racing. Early life Bo ...

. After winning on his debut at Silverstone and finishing third at Spa, Laurent had an impressive run at Le Mans. After helping his team get into the LMP2 lead, Laurent inherited the overall lead due to problems with LMP1 cars. In the end he won Le Mans in the LMP2 class, finishing second on the overall podium. He added to his win count with a dominant victory at the Nurburgring, but then finished ninth in class in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

due to a clutch issue. More successful races followed at the

Circuit Of The Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand ...

and Fuji with fourth and third-placed finishes respectively. It was announced that Laurent was awarded an opportunity to drive a Toyota LMP1 car in the Bahrain post-season test.

2018

Laurent has a contract dispute with DC Racing, because he signed with

Rebellion Racing Rebellion Racing is a Swiss racing team that competes in endurance racing. The team competed in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season and won the LMP1 teams' title in the 2011 Le Mans Series season. The team started as an association ...

. Despite this he with

Harrison Newey Harrison Newey (born 25 July 1998) is a British racing driver and the son of Formula One engineer Adrian Newey. He made his ADAC Formula 4 debut in 2015 with Van Amersfoort Racing. He also competed in the BRDC Formula 4 Championship The GB ...

and

Stéphane Richelmi Stéphane Richelmi (born 17 March 1990 in Monte Carlo) is a professional racing driver from Monaco. He is the son of former World Rally Championship driver Jean-Pierre Richelmi. Career Formula Renault 1.6 & 2.0 Richelmi began his Formula racing ...

took the 2017–18 Asian Le Mans Series title in the LMP2 category. He got a green light to race for Rebellion in 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship, competing behind the wheel of

Rebellion R13 The Rebellion R13 is a sports prototype racing car built by French constructor Oreca on behalf of Swiss-based team Rebellion Racing. It is a variation of the Oreca 07, created to compete in the LMP1 class. It would later be renamed by Alpine to A ...

car with

Mathias Beche Mathias Beche (born 28 June 1986 in Geneva) is a Swiss professional racing driver. He finished eighth overall and second in the LMP2 class of the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans and is the reigning champion of the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 clas ...

and

. He finished his first LMP1 race on podium behind two hybrid Toyotas. He joined the Signatech Alpine team the following season, finishing 8th in the standings with two podiums. In November 2018, Laurent tested a

Dallara F2 2018 The Dallara F2 2018 (originally known as the Dallara F2/18) is an open-wheel racing car developed by Italian manufacturer Dallara for use in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, a feeder-series for Formula One. The F2 2018 is the second car used by ...

car for

Arden International Arden International is a multiple formula racing team created and run by Christian Horner and Garry Horner. It currently runs teams in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and F4 British Championship, and formerly ran in the FIA Formula 2 Championship ...

at the

FIA Formula 2 Championship The FIA Formula 2 Championship is a second-tier single-seater championship organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Held on racing circuits, the championship was introduced in 2017, following the rebranding of the lo ...

post-season rookie test session at the

Yas Marina Circuit The Yas Marina Circuit (Arabic: حلبة مرسى ياس) is the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, and is situated on Yas Island, near Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Yas Marina was ...

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Laurent was a guest driver, he was ineligble to score points.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laurent, Thomas 1998 births Living people People from La Roche-sur-Yon French racing drivers Porsche Supercup drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Sportspeople from Vendée Karting World Championship drivers Rebellion Racing drivers Signature Team drivers Jota Sport drivers Graff Racing drivers